Savage Axis .30-06 (courtesy savagearns.com)

Mark Kelly’s Universal Background Check Tour hit New Hampshire, where the ex-astronaut bought a Savage .30-06 bolt-action rifle. If you’re worried about Mr. Kelly facing the same travel hassles as you and me, don’t. The AP reports that the mouthpiece for Americans for Responsible Solutions (and his wife) are traveling by private jet. On the other hand, if you’re concerned that Kelly doesn’t understand that universal background checks => gun registration => gun confiscation => something really ugly, roger that. NPR quizzed Kelly on the subject. His answer leaves little doubt that he is—how do I put this in accordance with Nick’s suggestion that TTAG lose a little of its stridency—an idiot. Government stooge? Well-intentioned yet deeply-misguided American? Let’s go with that. Make the jump and judge for yourself . . .

Well, I haven’t heard the camel’s nose anecdote but they often talk about the slippery slope. And the leadership of the NRA, you know, uses those words a lot. You know, I have not seen the slope in Washington to be very slippery. You know, it’s almost impossible to get anything done. If anything, the slope is made of Velcro, which is something I know a lot about from being in space.

Velcro in space, eh? Wikipedia reports that each space shuttle flew equipped with ten thousand inches of the stuff. And yet none of the lessons Mark learned in grade school about the Second Amendment’s crystal clear language (shall not be infringed and all that) stuck. Oh wait. Kelly grew up in New Jersey. Never mind.

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88 COMMENTS

        • It is SHOCKING on the ground here in CT. Nobody(State, owners or stores) has a bloody clue as to what the hell is going on.

          In my peer group, 75%+ are either leaving immediately, in process, or have already left. I fall into the former. While our governor might consider us the fringe of the fringe, those fleeing I know are:
          Mid 20’s to mid 30’s
          College educated
          White collar professionals
          Law abiding

          The sad part is that even as the state credit rating is downgraded and expenses soar, we won’t be missed by those in power.

        • And California. Believe it or not, there are still gun lovers here. I just finished my first AR-15 build today. It saddened me to put on the bullet button, while I had a perfectly good, normal mag release that came with my LPK sitting just inches away.

  2. When a gun grabber laments that it’s hard for them to get anything done, that’s a proud moment for the people of the gun.

    • “When a gun grabber laments that it’s hard for them to get anything done, that’s a proud moment for the people. of the gun.”

      It’s supposed to be “hard” to “get things done.” The point is that doing things carries risks of unintended consequences, so the afflicted also get a voice. The point is we should do the things we can agree on, and we’re a pluralistic people.

      Stalling simplistic “good” ideas is a win for the people who’s interests haven’t been considered.

  3. I’ll bet he does,the other astronauts used the Velcro to either zip his lips together or on his butt for obvious reasons…….

    • @ ensitue
      Yeah, really.

      From an officer, I’m not particularly surprised by the goofy statements from Kelly and his general lack of logic and real life “common sense” to use the grabber’s own words.

      But from a highly trained pilot – wow; he must have lost some gray matter out through his ears while he was orbiting the earth.

  5. “If anything, the slope is made of Velcro, which is something I know a lot about from being in space.”

    Then it is our job as citizens to make it superglue.A government in gridlock commits no tyranny!

    • A government in gridlock doesn’t do a whole hell of a lot else either, unfortunately.

      • People wanting government to “do stuff” is what has gotten us into this mess(huge government) that we see today. There may be some gridlock on major ticket legislation, but all of the pork that gets thrown in to smaller legislation is what makes up that slippery slope.

  6. You know, Velcro gas two sides. You know one side is You know soft. The other piece you know is more you know prickly. You know there is a slope. You know if you use the smooth piece of Velcro you know you can slide down you know faster. If you use the other piece of Velcro you know you can get road rash. You know either way sliding down you know that hill you know isn’t good.

    • You know, I know, you know…I know that. So, you know…we both know…you know…right?

  7. Pretty sad when the brains in the couple is the one who was shot in the head.

  8. Since the shooting he has bought more guns than me but it is my guns they want to take away. WTF!

      • The key words in the post were “private jet”. Question: who is paying for this “tour”? How much are the Giffords making from their new PAC?

  10. of course there is no slippery slope in MA, they are close to the bottom.

    Kelly likes all the laws in the states he visits, right? How about NPR ask that.

  11. In what state does Mr. Kelly claim residents in if he purchased the rifle in N.H. wouldn’t it have to be shipped to a dealer in his home state to take position of said rifle?

  12. It’s funny how often people of privilege state that they feel certain laws aren’t particularly onerous. Stop and Frisk and DWB both spring to mind. Well, no s#$% Sherlock, it’s because your class insulates you from them, not that they aren’t burdensome to the less affluent or fortunate. If I get a DUI for instance, I lose my job, I have my driving privileges suspended or revoked, I incur a crippling debt on top of that (and most probably will need to declare bankruptcy) and I’m stuck in some idiotic “program” for untold hours. If I’m rich, the fine is a joke, I’ll get a driver, my lawyer will get the class requirement waived and it’s nothing more than a (straight to the head of the line) morning in court. So minor inconvenience to you, life altering catastrophe to me.

    • This.

      Add “lifestyle” to class. Where I grew up, schools made sure to extend thanksgiving break over the first day of deer season. Hunting there supplements the larder for a great many people, even now.

      That’s one way to see the selfish overreach of the NYS gun laws. “Downstate” doesn’t hunt, or really get out in the woods much. Even in the small cities upstate you’re 20 minutes, max from undeveloped woodland. Many people live there & commute into urban cores to work & trade. But, they (we) don’t matter to urbanites who never go elsewhere or Proconsul Cuomo the Younger, who’s constituency doesn’t include us.

  13. A.R.S. great acronym . This guy is a NASshole. (see what I did there).

  14. Let’s see…
    National Firearms Act
    Federal Firearms Act
    Gun Control Act
    Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act
    ATF
    Crime Control Act
    Brady Act
    Violent Crime Control Act

    We went the first 143 years without any real federal gun laws… all of those listed above are in the last 90 years, with time between each less than the one before. Yea, no slippery slope.

    • Well, they did at least ask the question. And when he followed it up with the answer posted above, her next question was, “One of the things I wondered about was am I correct that the young man who shot your wife had in fact passed a background check?”

      After answering that question with a quick affirmative, Kelly went on to move the goal post, stating that, “if the information about his mental illness and drug use was in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and Arizona would share those records with the federal government, then he wouldn’t have passed.”

      He then moved the goal post again with, “The problem, though, is I imagine that he was probably smart enough to know that he could go to a gun show and buy the gun anyway, or go to the Internet.”

      “So, that’s why it’s so critical that we close the gun show and Internet and private sales loophole … it would not only prevent them from getting a gun, but let’s make it a lot harder.”

      So, you want to prevent it AND make it harder? Doesn’t the first necessarily include the second? I’m confused.

  17. I would have more sympathy if he talked about “reasonable restrictions” and listed some of our current laws that are dumb and should be repealed. That would actually be a great question to ask him and see what he says.

  18. 2013 almost became the giant cliff. If they had the votes, they would have screwed gun owner across the nation while criminals would continue with little to no hinderances.

  19. I think Mark Kelly is just a good old fashioned Opportunist and would as readily support either side of Gun Rights issues depending on who is making available to him the most money to mouthpiece for them. He doesn’t believe honestly in either side’s point of view, which is demonstrated by his willingness to advocate for further infringement of American’s Second Amendment Rights and post videos of himself and his wife enjoying the exercise of their Second Amendment Rights at the Shooting Range.

  20. He’s not an idiot, he’s something much worse. He was advocating for weapons bans up until the powers that be put out the instructions that the ONLY thing gun controllers are asking for is “enhanced” background checks.

    He’s on the slippery slope and he knows it, only he’s pretending not to be.

  21. Interesting facts about Mark Kelly on Wikipedia:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Kelly

    At his wedding to Gabrielle Giffords on 11/7/07, one of the honored guests was the self-admitted socialist former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, who led a toast at the reception.

    The couple met on a 2003 trip to China as part of a trade mission sponsored by the National Committee on U.S.–China Relations.
    ————

    I also wonder about his eligibility to buy the .30-06 in NH. Is he a resident there? Or TX or AZ?

  22. I live in New York where a 2 feature semi-auto rifle ban became a 1 feature ban and a 10 round limit became (temporarily) a 7 round limit. I have to register my AR by April 15, 2014 even though no one can explain how that is going to lower the crime or murder rate. As of Jan 14, 2014 I won’t be able to buy ammo online unless it’s shipped to an FFL.

    Pretty dang slippery if you ask me.

    • You intend on complying? Not me, by any stretch. Meantime, ammo is coming back in the stores and I’m stocking up. Investigating relocation to PA short term and somewhere else long term. Some family obligations keeping me in the 716 for now.

  23. “Ignore the man behind the curtain. Ignore the man behind the curtain. Ignore the man behind the curtain.”

    And all the while, we are plainly seeing the guy’s backside, his arms waving madly, and the sweat dripping down the back of his neck.

  24. “If anything, the slope is made of Velcro, which is something I know a lot about from being in space.” Did i mention that i was an astronaut? Because people who go into space are called astronauts. I should know, because i was one…an astronaut.

    • I kind of understand him constantly mentioning this. To be fair, he was a pretty good astronaut. And he traded it away to be arm candy for a Congresswoman. Poor guy’s just looking to get his nuts back.

  26. ‘Lose some of the stridency’?! That’s the only reason I read this blog. Information is cheap- but insulting, angry information? Priceless.

  27. The Professional Husband might want to be aware of the slippery slope leading straight to hell- using his poor crippled wife for notoriety, riches and access to the powerful is a slippery slope indeed.

  28. Pardon my French, but how you say “Fah-Q Mr. Kelly”.

    Go back to space…please! Maybe you could velcro yourself permenantly to the outside of a space shuttle.

  29. a useful idiot from space…maybe he was reprogrammed by ‘aliens’ while in outer space..and now is being paraded around the country to bring ‘peaceful solutions’ to the carnage coming out of DC…..the murder capitol of the US….as ALL Americans know from reading and studying history…gun control has worked very well and has made all the countries that embellish it a safer and more prosperous place to live…As the UN and its member states like to remind us…we only want a peaceful world as we have labored to get to where we are to day with world wide peace and understanding through the many UN peace missions….we as a world are much more safer and peaceful without gun ownership by rouge nations peoples …under our plans all will be safer and protected by our efforts….sounds good to many people…to me I say FUCK THE UN AND ALL OF ITS SUPPORTERS and a big FUCK YOU to the spaceman kelly …….imho

  30. He is right, there’s no slippery slope, just an abyss. Better to stay away from the edge.

  31. I’m not giving an excuse for his behavior or views,but I think that this might be his way of dealing with the guilt or reasons only known to him of his wife being shot and ending up in the shape she is in,lets say he might be using this as his way of trying to fight back.In that case,he is blind to the fact that the 2nd Amendment is as it is written,and nothing will change that fact,and if the politicians in DC pass legislation to try to change it,it will start Revolution 2.Be prepared and ready.Keep your powder dry.

    • Exactly right. If we want to talk about a slippery slope, how about what happens when the federal government decides it can re-write or amend ANY of the Bill of Rights, which were enumerated specifically to tell the federal government what it COULD NOT do? Just attempting such a thing would be dangerous enough, but should a significant number of state legislatures try to ratify such changes the excrement will most definately hit the rotating air circulation device.

  32. There’s an old joke that says “just because you’re an astronaut doesn’t mean you’re a rocket scientist“!

    • “Mommy, whats an ass troll not?”
      “Thats some one who gets shot into space. Why do you ask?”
      “Daddy said if he had been just a little quicker, I’d be an ass troll not.”
      Always remember, the first astronaut was a monkey, and from the look of things, he was the smart one in the bunch.

  34. No slippery slope for him, but he can apparently walk into any store in any state and buy a gun ignoring federal laws because of his “celebrity” status. This brings us again to the meaning of The Bill of Rights. The first 10 amendments were written specifically for this purpose. Having just rid themselves of King George III, the states wanted to make it impossible for The US to turn into a country where government could do as it pleases and citizens be damned. Mr Kelly, YOU are the reason for The Second Amendment!

    • Which federal law does this violate? He would seem to be covered by the 922.(b)(3)(A) “rifle or shotgun in-person transfer” exception to the 922.(b)(3) prohibition on selling to out-of-state residents.

  35. Apparently he’s not a fan of history…

    Look at where we are today…most pro-gun folks offer up automatics being restricted beyond the purchase ability of most average people…they throw full autos on the alter of freedom as if they are not protected by the 2nd Amendment…SCOTUS said “common” use determined it’s protection…if the gov’t didn’t restrict them like they do, every collector would have one or two at a fraction of the cost they are today. We are not allow the same weapons police and miltiary have and most progun guys are OK with that… We’ve already given ground and now there is no hope of ever getting it back…they went after autos in the middle of the night and got them…now they are working on semi autos. Handguns would be next followed by hunting rifles(they’d call them sniping rifles).

    “This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!”

    Those words may sound almost exactly like what Obama said recently…as his quote was almost identical word for word. These words however were spoken by another tyrant though. Adolph Hitler on April 15, 1935.

    Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

  36. I like how he circles the conversation back to “I’m an astronaut.” Great, we’ll call you if we have a question about space policy.

  37. There is also the possibility Kelly is not an Idiot. He might simply be a Liar. Kelly’s 2A values might have “changed” so much now that he privately “hopes” for national registration and confiscation of most types of guns (if not all guns) to most Americans.

    Watch for the Biden-Kelly election run in 2016 🙂

  38. Questions:
    Who is paying for the private jet? Donations?
    If donor money is going towards the jet, are donors aware of that?
    Are the Kelly’s getting salaries, and if so, from whom? Is it from their “nonprofit”?

  40. Kelly isn’t misguided or an idiot. He’s in it for the money. Wheelbarrows full of Joyce Foundation and Bloomberg money, and contributions from people who are misguided or idiots or both.

  42. Inclined plane, probaly the first machine used by man or beast.
    Congress has perfected the declined plane

  43. The painful segway to the space comment reminds me of the Wolowitz character on “The Big Bang Theory”. Like the character, he has no other redeeming qualities beyond the fact that he’s been in space.

    I’d argue that he’s still spaced.

  44. Well America, you want to know what it’s like when the disarmers win? Take us, part of the British Commonwealth, which decided before WWII to take all handguns off its citizens. Now, if you can pass the firearms license test, you can buy a shotgun and whatever rifle suits your fancy. With more money, time and effort you could have an E Category license, and finally shoot that AR you’ve been lusting after. If you’re really serious, you could join a pistol club, and after a year with no mishaps and buying a 6mm steel safe, you might qualify for a pistol license. But you can only buy a pistol or revolver with a 4″ or over barrel, and will never be allowed to carry said pistol on your person as you go about your day. They are strictly for transport to and from the range. If you ever so much as hint that you have even the slightest intention of having any home or personal defense use for any of your firearms, you will be considered a threat to society, and your license revoked, and your weapons confiscated. America, this is your future.

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